El Niño has formed. Forecasters expect a global weather powerhouse.
A long-anticipated and dramatic global climate shift has arrived, federal forecasters said June 11 as they confirmed the start of El Niño conditions . The announcement also adds to mounting evidence suggesting this El Niño will be unusually strong, potentially supercharging droughts , heavy rainfall events and heat waves. Previous El Niños have led to some of the hottest years on record, such as the record-breaking worldwide average temperature in 2024. El Niño is part of a larger climate cycle driven by the temperature of water in parts of the Pacific Ocean. The natural climate pattern affects weather planetwide, bringing a mixed bag of conditions across the globe. The new forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center anticipates a "very strong" El Niño. It may grow to rival the strongest El Niño events in historical record dating back to 1950, said the climate center's Michelle L'Heureux in an e-mail to USA TODAY. Meanwhile, not all El Niño effects are sinister. The pattern is also expected to reduce hurricane activity in the Atlantic and could bring a milder winter (and lower heating bills) to millions of Americans. .oembed-frame { width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0; border: 0;
